Defining Animal Welfare

Abstract

Without highly reliable measurement, welfare assessment relies on anecdotal and sometimes anthropomorphic judgments that may not accurately capture or reflect an animal’s state of well-being. It is critical that zoos instead develop objective, reliable, and replicable measures that allow different individuals, at different time points in different settings or contexts, to assess welfare in a consistent manner. There is much to be learned from the welfare metrics of related fields, such as biomedicine or agriculture, but zoos also present a unique set of challenges such as the variety of species, low sample size and the housing of animals that have not been domesticated. Early conceptions of welfare targeted the prevention of suffering, thus many early measurements of welfare were aimed primarily towards reducing or eliminating negative behaviors, such as stereotypic behavior, or reducing associated physiological indicators, such as decreasing cortisol levels. More recently, scientists have begun to focus on identifying measures that indicate an increase in positive welfare. To progress as a science, it is critical to identify effective theories and rule out those that are obsolete or redundant. Given the wide variety of tasks used to measure welfare, and the many complexities and challenges of studying welfare, it is critical to avoid reliance on a single measure, but include multiple measures when analyzing welfare. There is also a pressing need for scientific research to validate metrics of welfare in zoos. Future research should focus on continuing the development of positive measures of welfare by refining behavioral techniques and identifying physiological markers.

Animal welfare must not become irrelevant. Our task is to establish a workable, morally and scientifically acceptable way of dealing with the substance and the perception of paradox in our relations with wild creatures.

W.G. Conway